SOLUTION TO THE ZODIAC 340 SYMBOL CODE - GENERAL ANALYSIS - START AT THE BEGINING - IF WE CAN DECIPHER THE FIRST LINE IT MAY PROVIDE THE KEY TO SOLVE THE ENTIRE CODE

What appears below is what I think is the correct first stage solution to the 340. I did not create this solution. It was based on the work of Robert Graysmith and appeared in the 1979 FBI file, and was then worked on by some posters at the old Zodiac Killer board - Kite, Claston, Ed, Sean, Obiwan and a few others. I do not know if all now think this is largely a correct solution, however, I feel it is a correct first stage solution. I know that Kite and a few dozen other researchers at http://www.unazod.com, http://www.zodiackillersite.forummotion.com and elsewhere also think this is the correct solution, or a largely correct solution that should serve as a starting point.

Many have noted points of similarity between the Zodiac and Jack the Ripper, and have wondered if the Zodiac was inspired by or copied some aspects of the earlier famed serial killer, who also wrote taunting letters to the police and left graffiti at a crime scene. Both Jack the Ripper and Zodiac demanded their words appear in the newspaper without changes or edits. Both spoke of removing "female parts".

Zodiac also used other similar words and phrases as Jack the Ripper - JTR spoke of his "funny little games", while Zodiac spoke of the "game"; both JTR and Zodiac taunted the police would "never catch" them; both signed a letter "Yours Truly"; JTR said in a letter he would have the "good ole times" again while Zodiac talked of the "good times" he had in Vallejo; and a man who may have been the Zodiac abducting a coed in Riverside in November 1966 spoke of the recent murder of Cheri Jo Bates and said it was safe for the coed to be with him as "I'm not Jack the Ripper".

Their was a famous Jack the Ripper letter addressed to the head of a local citizens watch group, Mr. Lusk. At the top of the letter, Jack the Ripper wrote it was "From Hell".

Z Jack The Ripper From Hell Catch Me When You Can Letter.jpg (69.64 KiB) Viewed 14384 times

As Robert Graysmith, Zander Kite and myself look at the 340, we think that perhaps Zodiac started with a similar salutation to local SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen.

Just as Jack the Ripper told Lusk he is "From Hell", Zodiac tells Caen that he "Gives Them Hell Too".

(Zodiac does some word scrambles and anagrams to increase difficulty, sometimes creating alternate or hidden meanings. This opening line literally reads, perhaps alluding to the task of solving this code, that it is HERCEAN BIG. A task worthy of HERCULES, a difficult job, is called HERCULEAN, and here we have a shortened version HERCEAN, followed by BIG. And Zodiac suspect Theodore Kaczynski used HERCULES as an alias when he was a youth.)

Zodiac seems fixated on SEEING things, and hidden names and visions.

Don and Bettye Harden, using their thoughts and analysis of what Zodiac would likely say, correctly guessed the opening line of the Zodiac 408 Code as "I like killing". That provided the key to solving the rest of the 408 code. And so it is the case here as well with the 340. The opening line provides the key to solving the code.

As you decode the 340 and translate that first line as HERC EANB (HERB CAEN) I GIVE THE HELL TOO, on the 4th line the words SEE A NAME start to appear, and on the amazing 8th line appears THESE FOOLSHALL SEE.

What is it that we "shall see"? Right before SEE A NAME on the 4th line, on the 3rd line we see SLEU(TH) THEO. THEO is Greek for God. Is Zodiac proclaiming himself God, or mocking God? Or is THEO a clue to his name? Perhaps a clue to the name THEODORE Kaczynski, who like the Zodiac wrote taunting letters to police, demanded his words appear on the front page of the newspaper, designed bombs and threatened mass transit, was a serial killer and lived in the SF Bay area in the time frame.

Below is the first stage solution with some of the key sentences and vertical/diagonal words marked.

Not only does this proposed solution give clear words like I GIVE THEM HELL TOO, SEE A NAME and THESE FOOLSHALL SEE, I also discovered that key Zodiac words like LIST and BOMBS appear diagonally! To me that is absolute confirmation that this is the intended first stage solution of the 340. It is impossible that key words Zodiac used would appear by accident like that, together, correct spelling, no anagrams. We also see THEO, which is Greek for GOD, and on a vertical downward under the "M" in BOMBS we see DEO, which is Latin for GOD.

Nobody - not Graysmith or anyone at the Zodiac Killer board - ever noticed or found or claimed the words that I mark here. Like BOMBS and LIST appearing diagonally. Two key Zodiac words - what are the odds that happens by coincidence? Then there other words noticed by Kite and myself. Forms of restraints like BARS, LEASH, STALLS, TIES, BALL. And words that apply to restraints, like TAKE and LOSE. In the Unabomber Manifesto and other writings, Theodore Kaczynski mentioned restraints over half a dozen times, including LEASH, as part of his theory about the modern technological society imposing control on people.

I then think that parts of this first stage solution needs a Caesar Code analysis with the 0-3-6-9 shift values that Zodiac kept giving us as clues. But that is a seperate topic.

It is impossible these words all appear by mere chance. They cannot be fabrications or forces by Graysmith because he never noticed them. So either all these happen by chance - mathematically impossible - or they were placed there by Zodiac and this is a correct first stage solution.

UPDATE ***** NEW INFO AS OF MAY 2011***** UPDATE

* You can see the full results of the new Aquiman probabilty study and analysis here:

The study was done by someone who has a Masters in Applied Physics, works at a top ten research university, and does failure analsyis using computers and probabilty/statistical models as part of his regular work. He started off as a critic of my code work.

The results are quite amazing. They totally refute the critics who said the 18 letter name Theodore J Kaczynski could be found in "virtually any" letters string. They are a major first step towards computer confirmation that the Caesar Code method with 0-3-6-9 shifts WAS the way Zodiac hid his name in the codes.

Last edited by akwilks on Tue May 10, 2011 3:56 pm, edited 5 times in total.

So we have "LIST" leading to the "T" in "A L S T B", a probable anagram for "BLAST" (a word Zodiac used, something like 'when I have my BLAST'), with the "B" then forming a diagonal "BOMBS". Which leads us to "THEO", then "SEE A NAME". We have a vertical SEAT, a place a student can be confined to, thus a type of restraint. Also have a backwards "GAME".

The words BLAST, BOMBS, LIST and GAME are absolutely key words that Zodiac used repeatedly.

It is impossible that they would all appear by chance. They serve as validation that this is indeed the correct solution.

Robert Graysmith then tried to force a solution out of some parts of the solution that were not as clear, because he did not realize that some those parts require a seperate second stage analysis using a Caesar Code method with letter shifts of 0, 3, 6 and 9.

I believe the solution is correct. There could be something to the Jack the Ripper/From Hell parallel, but even if so, I believe it would fall back into the ancient god(s) theme that seems to run thru-out. So, that might be like a sub-topic to a topic sort-of-thing, or otherwise let's call it "interweaving themes". I would recommend viewing(and then gauging) the 340 cipher as an escalation of the 3-PART-CIPHER. For example, we have, possibly, an unknown 18 that perhaps Caesar shifts to Theodore J. Kaczynski. But, in my opinion, the possible Caesar shift in the 340 cipher to Theo Kaczynski is much more remarkable. The number pattern and breaking up of the name. The way you can plainly see THEO, and that followed by SEE A NAME. A diagonal BOMBS runs up to it. To me, it seems a lot more daring. It sort of makes the previous (3 PART cipher--unknown 18-- Caesar shift) seem a bit bland. Possibly, the 340 cipher Caesar shift(Theo Kaczynski) arguably involves much more nerve, though not necessarily when we factor in the escalation in difficulty to solve. Whereas the 3 part cipher may have a few hidden words and perhaps themes and also the unknown 18, the 340 cipher seems possibly laced with hidden words and their matching themes in all directions. The jumbled style of the 340 would allow for more freedom of cryptic, in a manner of speaking. I believe the more that Zodiac wanted to hide, the more degraded the straight text became, and thus, in my opinion, possibly, a drug angle was included to misdirect in two senses. Misdirection the investigation(or police) and to misdirect the code breaker into thinking the degraded straight text was a result of drug use and thus mask the, perhaps, real reason for the weakened text--(hidden cryptics). Oh, one last thing for now. If you match up where the possible 340 cryptic reading: MAGPC BLLE HALL. Those are on 3 lines(Line 6,7,8) in a row in close proximity, in my opinion, of some interest possibly as compared to where Kaczynski once taught: Campbell Hall. But, check out the same area in the 3 PART CIPHER!! Is there some kind of co-ordination there??

A man who was probably the Zodiac told a Riverside coed he could "beat her to death with this piece of wood". The Original Night Stalker attacked couples with a flashlight, wore a hood, had pre-cut lengths of rope, ordered the female to bind the male, then tied them both. One (or perhaps two) couples he beat to death with a piece of wood, a log. Another single woman was probably beaten to death with a wood object, and a lone woman was beaten with a wood log but survived. He placed (unintentionally or probably intentionally) a woodchip between the dead woman's legs. TJK was obsessed with wood and wood references, put wood parts in all of his bombs, including twigs and chips in some.

THEO is Greek for God. DEO is Latin for God. On the German wood amulets, some were inscribed DEO HER(CULIS).

Wow. I just got an actual response - for the first time ever - from the head of the FBI Code Unit. I had sent in work over a year ago and never got a response, some other work six months ago and never got any response.

Not touting this as a big breakthrough or as an endorsement, it is fairly generic, and rather dishearteningly, it mentions they get several proposed solutions a month! That makes it hard for a solution that may actually be correct, or at least have some valid work in it, from breaking through. Because how much time can they devote to any one solution, given that several come in each month?

And what if the solution has some anagram aspects and other things that depart from traditional code principles? The FBI Code Unit mainly deals with codes from spy agencies, drug cartels and the mafia. Where the message and the method to encode and decode must be precise. And where general code principles are followed. What happens if we have a twisted genius using unconventional and unique code methods, and mixes them with anagram, puzzle and mathematical game aspects? Would the actual correct solution to these types of codes be unverifiable by an expert code unit using conventional analysis and computer methods?

But thanks to AweShucks and others who told me to re-submit to the FBI, and for all those who helped out on the new work and discoveries that have been made. Most of all Mr. Kite for his brilliant code analysis and discoveries that started my own work on the Caesar Codes in re Zodiac, and Doug Oswell for his breakthrough work on the overall case, giving us a forum to work on the codes and his own work on the codes. And yes even Robert Graysmith for his partially correct 340 solution, which gave grounds for further work by Kite, myself and others.

I recently sent the FBI the work on the Unabomber 9 digit number and its relation to the Z case, the new work on the unsolved 18 and the 340 proposed solution, the "key" to the first line of the 340 and cryptic word finds in the 340.

This is what the email said:

I appreciate your efforts at finding a solutions to the Zodiac ciphers. We do make an effort to review all solutions submitted to us, and we receive many each month. We generally only respond if we have questions or, of course, if a suggested solution leads to a break in the case. Thanks again for your efforts to bring the Zodiac murderer to justice.

At least it is a small step in the right direction and I am glad that it appears that (hopefully) the work will get looked at, over the next few weeks or maybe next few months.

Mr. Olson is the top guy, a former military code expert, who with the FBI has broken many major codes used by the Russian spys and organized crime groups. So certainly he has more than enough expertise to look at what Kite, myself and others have done here and pick up on it and put it all together. (Or discover any errors we made).

For those interested in codes, cryptography and code breaking, check out this article.

It is about a recent spy case involving codes.

One of the codes used by the spy was a Caesar Code.

The FBI agent who broke the codes was none other than Daniel Olson, the head of the FBI Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit.

I really hope Mr. Olson and the FBI take a serious look at our work, and keep an open mind to the unconventional aspects that Zodiac probably used in the codes.

Wouldn't that be tremendous to have an FBI annoucement in a few months that there has been a breakthrough on the codes and perhaps even the identity of the Zodiac? As I have detailed elsewhere, other investigators are seeking the DNA draw on Ted Kaczynski and looking at other evidence on the case.

But I do have this worry.

What if I am right and correct solution has some anagram aspects and other things that depart from traditional code principles? The FBI Code Unit mainly deals with codes from spy agencies, drug cartels and the mafia. Where the message and the method to encode and decode must be precise. And where general code principles are followed. What happens if we have a twisted genius using unconventional and unique code methods, and mixes them with anagram, puzzle and mathematical game aspects? Would the actual correct solution to these types of codes be unverifiable by an expert code unit using conventional analysis and computer methods?

Because one of the amazing things about the Zodiac codes is that they have been examined - at the time, at various times in the years since, and even today, right now - by police experts, the FBI Code Unit, the military, the NSA, and legions of citizen code hobbyists. Mostly using conventional analysis, tradional code and decode principles and often cumputers and super computers. And they have got exactly nowhere. That tells me that we are very likely not dealing with a tradional code, but based on the evidence and our work, instead one that takes traditional code elements but then mixes in a Caesar Code letter shift for a second stage, and also complicates it with some anagram, word puzzle and mathematical game aspects.

For the name, that breaks down as 99 6666 0000 33 0. That is clearly NOT random.

That is a number sequence of patterned repeats. Two digits repeat (99), then four digits repeat (6666), then four digits repeat (0000), then two digits repeat (33). Then it finishes off with the last letter of the name (0), and the SEEA is a four digits repeat (0000), and it finishes with yet another four digits repeat for NAME (0000). Amazing!

The letters involve only a very mild anagram application to get the name:

Z - CAK - NY - THEO - IKS

"KAC" appears exactly and perfectly backwards with values of:-669

"ZYN" has the "YN" part backwards with the "Z" put into place with values of:-966

"SKI" appears exactly and perfectly backwards with values of:-033

"THEO" appears as is, normal forward left to right read, with values of:-0000

I also sort of conceptualized something interesting, a new way way to illustrate how amazing this line in the 340 truly is.

Keep in mind this comes from Robert Graysmith and the 1979 FBI file, with minor revisions by some old ZK Board posters. But 95% of the solution was done in 1979, almost two decades before the identity of the Unabomber became known. So this CANNOT be forced or rigged! Because it was done by someone who thinks - then and now - that Allen was the Zodiac, and it was done 17 years before the identity of the Unabomber was known.

And that gives us the 9 letters that with Caesar Code application of 0-3-6-9 shifts gives us KACZYNSKI.

Let me show how Ted could have used the letters in his name to come up with this sequence - I L U E H S L H S - using a Caesar Code matrix:

T J L I H W B T RQ G I F E T Y Q ON D F C B Q V N L

K A C Z Y N S K I

H X Z W V K P H FE U W T S HM E CB R T Q P E J B Z

Now lets see how (perhaps thinking of CLUE and/or SLEUTH) he could have encoded his name by patterned repeats of Caesar Code shifts of 0-3-6-9 and came up with the same sequence we see in the 1979 Zodiac 340 solution:

T J L I H W B T RQ G I F E T Y Q ON D F C B Q V N L

K A C Z Y N S K I

H X Z W V K P H FE U W T S HM E CB R T Q P E J B Z

6 6 9 9 6 6 0 3 3

That gives us: E U L I S H S H L

Lets look:

E U L I S H S H L with values of 66 99 66 0 33 forK A CZ Y N S K I

Now look at the 340 solution sequence of:

I L U E H S L H S

And perhaps to increase difficulty of solution HE REVERSES IT so lets look at the 340 solution sequence REVERSED:

S H L S H E U L I

Lets use color to illustrate the three parts of the name - KAC, ZYN and SKI - each with three letters:

S H LS H E U LI and compare it to the sequence for:

E U LI S HS H LK A C Z Y N S K I

With one minor shift of the "I" to increase difficulty, it is an exact match!

That is a very interesting response. Also interesting, AK, I hadn't considered the arrangement of EAT P LSD. It seems possibly further confirmed by the sequence only two lines under that: EAT A ILLLLP. (EAT A PILLLL). But something else to be noticed along with that idea: The vertical down reading from the D in LSD: DOPR--(DROP!!). So perhaps further misdirection with Drop LSD. Notice DUEL on the other side of the cipher. That D is in the E-T-D skip-a-letter while the D in LSD is part of the T-E-D skip-a-letter.

In the film "The Most Dangerous Game", Count Z talks of hunting humans as "Outdoor CHESS". In the first column above, we see "DUEL SIR".

There is a possible anagram here, though it is a little too dispersed for me to stand by it - it is not as tight or logical as the "restraints" and "seeing" themes, but maybe still worth noting.

Look at that very first vertical line - the first column, it gives us these words and letters, in this order:

H H L S S E O T M D U E L A S I R L I C

We already have DUEL and SIR naturally. With anagram application we can have:

H H L S S EO T M D U E L A S I R L I C

To create:

TO A CHESS DUEL SIR HILL M or

A CHESS DUEL SIR HILL MT or

CHESS DUEL SIR HILL MOAT

*******************

FAR MORE IMPORTANTLY:

In the fifth column as seen above we have:

E T I N L P T E K B A R S N E L E A S H

With two types of RESTRAINTS, BARS and LEASH, appearing naturally, as is, no anagrams. That seems clearly intended.

With mild anagram application we could have:

KEPT LINE NET BARS LEASH or

KEPT IN NET BARS LEASH (with EL left over).

KEPT applies to all these types of RESTRAINTS, such as BARS, LEASH, NET and LINE.

Mr. Kite and myself have been examining the fifth column of the Graysmith first stage solution, and have noted that two types of RESTRAINTS appear naturally, as is, no anagrams - BARS and LEASH. With anagrams, you can have KEPT IN BARS LEASH NET. The Zodiac seems to perhaps be using words like LEASH and other types of RESTRAINTS to signify government and societal control over the individual.

We might reasonably ask "Did any of the known Zodiac suspects seem interested in or obsessed with the theme of restraints, and use these words we find in the solution?"

Ted Kaczynski was very interested in, perhaps even near obsessed with the idea of restraints and controls. And he did frequently use these very ideas and even words, in particular LEASH.

Look at these lines from the Unabomber Manifesto:

26. ...Thus the oversocialized person is kept on a psychological LEASH and spends his life running on rails that society has laid down for him. In many oversocialized people this results in a sense of CONSTRAINT and powerlessness that can be a severe hardship. We suggest that oversocialization is among the more serious cruelties that human beings inflict on one another.

28. ...The leftist of the oversocialized type tries to get off his psychological LEASH and assert his autonomy by rebelling. But usually he is not strong enough to rebel against the most basic values of society. Generally speaking, the goals of today's leftists are not in conflict with the accepted morality.

30. ...By their own account, violence is for them a form of "liberation." In other words, by committing violence they break through the psychological RESTRAINTS that have been trained into them.

76. ... As long as the system gives them their opportunities it still has them on a LEASH. To attain autonomy they must get off that LEASH.

114. ...modern man is STRAPPED DOWN by a network of rules and regulations.

Notes 6. ...Some of the symptoms listed are similar to those shown by CAGED animals.

Notes 24. ... But only planned, circumscribed, limited freedom is in the interest of the system. The individual must always be kept on a LEASH, even if the LEASH is sometimes long.

And on a personal level, when his brother David told him he was getting married, Ted told him that the woman (Linda) was over controlling, and that he knew "who would be wearing the DOG COLLAR in that relationship", once again showing a focus on a LEASH.

******************************************

It seems these themes and words were important to Kaczynski, as he used them multiple times in his manifesto, with the same implied meaning the Zodiac did, as a way society keeps people in check, a form of mental slavery.

I have been reading the Joseph Conrad book "The Secret Agent". I have found a number of interesting things. Remember that this was TJK's favorite book, one he read over a dozen times, told his family to read it to understand him, and kept a copy by his bedside as a young man. The character that he most identified with was the Professor, an anarchist bomber. The FBI felt TJK drew many things from the book, perhaps basing his "FC" name on the terrorist group "FP" from the novel, and using other themes in his crimes and writings. Listen to what the (fictional) anarchist bomber Professor said:

I am not impressed by them. Therefore they are inferior. They cannot be otherwise. Their character is built on conventional morality. It leans on the social order. Mine stands free from everything artificial. They are BOUND in all sorts of conventions. They depend on life, which, in this connection, is a historical fact surrounded by ALL SORTS OF RESTRAINTS and considerations, a complex organized fact open to attack at every point; whereas I depend on DEATH, WHICH KNOWS NO RESTRAINT and cannot be attacked. My superiority is evident."

*******

You revolutionists are the SLAVES OF THE SOCIAL CONVENTION, which is afraid of you; SLAVES of it as much as the very police that stands up in the defence of that convention.

The Secret Agent, p. 58 (emphasis added).

Thus there is the possibility of a pattern - a book and character that we know inspired Kaczynski, thoughts from that book and character about restraints, the appearance of those themes and words in the Zodiac 340 and the appearance of those themes and words, fleshed out, in the Kaczynski manifesto.

In the book "The Secret Agent" it is said that the foundations of society must be destroyed and that that the public needs a "good scare", thus the anarchists are encouraged to attack by bombs symbols of SCIENCE (which Kaczynski certainly took to heart) and symbols of EDUCATION or LEARNING. Is there any greater symbol of education than a SCHOOL BUS? Was Zodiac inspired to threaten to explode this symbol of education by reading THE SECRET AGENT? Interestingly, prior to his arrest as the Unabomber, Kaczynski had only ONE violation of the law - he was ticketed for passing a stopped school bus. Could the have caused his unbalanced mind to be angry at school buses as a target of education and learning?

See anything on this cover that the Zodiac might have been inspired by?

The Secret Agent.jpg (16.34 KiB) Viewed 13781 times

Like a circle on top of a cross?

One of the characters in the book is so secret that he does not have a name, and signs his letters only with a geometric symbol, a triangle. The Zodiac signed his letters with a geometric symbol, the unit circle, which is a cross inside a circle.

A poster at the websleuths forum named Mr. TT made some interesting observations about the 340 Code solution.

She noted BELLI (famed SF attorney who was contacted by a fake [?] Zodiac by phone and then the real Zodiac by letter), LASS (probable Zodiac victim and Nevada nurse Donna Lass?) and an anagram for I SHOT AT THE PIG (reference to past attempt on the life of a policeman, or to the future murder of SFPD Officer Radetich?).